Jeremy Lukens

The “vampire” novel that inspired all of the zombie stories of our culture. But mostly it's about loneliness and the things people will do to survive, even if it seems there's really nothing to live for. A great, fast read.

As a writer, every time I read Marilynne Robinson, I am equal parts inspired and discouraged, because her prose and character development are so amazing and I'll never be that good. Most will never be that good.

“Housekeeping” is an expertly crafted tale of abandonment, isolation, and transience. It is captivating but something you'll want to read slowly to savor every word, phrase, and description.

This is two books in one. It's a book of apologetics where Qureshi lays out the cases for belief in Christianity and Islam, showing why and how he came to change his beliefs. It is also a memoir of Qureshi's life, as a young Pakistani Muslim boy growing up in the West, the culture clashes he faced, and the emotional struggles he underwent as he went through the process of rethinking his faith.

Similar to Josh McDowell and Lee Strobel, Qureshi set out to disprove Christianity. Unlike those two, however, for Qureshi, this was deeply personal. He didn't just want to win an argument. He wanted to show his Christian friends the proper way to worship God, he wanted to honor his family, and most importantly, he wanted to be sure about the state of his own soul.

Because it's too kinds of books in one, it isn't quite as strong in either as it would have been if he had picked one. The apologetics are more thorough and convincing in his later book, “No God But One: Allah or Jesus.” And the memoir about his life and struggles with faith would have been more powerful if not interrupted by long debate scenes.

Even so, this is a powerful book and a must read for anyone interested in the topic. The last few chapters had me repeatedly alternating between tears of joy and tears of sadness, so that's pretty impressive writing.

An expertly crafted novella where James makes you put in a good deal of work to figure out what exactly is going on, but is highly rewarding. It is the story's ambiguity – most the the scenes can be interpreted in more than one way – that makes it so powerful. Read it slowly and take the time to let your imagination run wild.

It's a good concept. For people who love discussing and reading about film, it's cool to see what some of our favorite auteurs think about their favorite films. But the execution could be better.

First of all, a lot of the 30 directors are people whose work I don't really follow. When a director I don't care about is discussing a film I've never watched, it's rather dull. The other problem is the Q&A format. Elder basically asked the same questions of all 30 directors, with the exception of some follow-ups, so after a few chapters, the book gets really repetitive. Sure, it's different directors talking about different films, but they're all being asked the same questions, so they're all talking about the same kinds of things.

The sweet spot is when a director I like talks about a film I like, such as Edgar Wright discussing AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON and Danny Boyle discussing APOCALYPSE NOW. It's worth reading any of those chapters. But the rest is largely uninteresting even for a cinephile.